Cabela's
Reviews and Complaints

Don't do business with them. They offered a good deal online. Afther the purchase, they provided a tracking no., but never shipped the merchandise. When I called in, they tried to find different reasons to cancel my orders. Bad business. Stay away!

I recently wanted to exchange an item at Cabella's and was told that to do so requires them "swiping" my driver's license. I was appalled. So much for their 100% satisfaction guaranteed, no hassle return policy they brag about.

There was a lame excuse stated that it is needed to track returns. Well duh, can't they track returns by tracking returns ... not drivers' license numbers and personal demographics? I've never encountered such a policy ... to be treated like an illegal alien at a boarder crossing is insulting.

The only authorization Cabela's has to collect such information is with the sale of firearms. I believe collection of such information is unjustifiable.

This appears to be flagrant violation of allowed collection and use of private information as contained in a legal document. It's different than asking zip codes or telephone numbers. A DL is an official document of the state. What is Cabela's doing with this sensitive private information? Who are they selling it to? What privacy policy protect it? Furthermore, it's questionable whether they have a right to collect such information without an expressed written agreement such as what you get when applying for a credit card. What is to stop Cabela's from unfettered, unauthorized use of this information? How protected is it within the Cabela's database?

I've written the company, and received lame excuses to what I believe is a flagrant violation of privacy rights.

All shoppers at Cabela's should be aware of it and refuse to cooperate with what otherwise has always been an extremely customer friendly and responsive retailer.

We recently purchased a Model 669 meat slicer. It has fatal flaws. The screws attaching the food carriage lack a slot to place a tool while removing the nuts. (for cleaning purposes) And... the screws attaching the food dellector & rear blade guide are sheet metal screws ... (Should be standard threads... they fasten into "White Metal" ... Zinc+Manganese? I had to use a Dremel* tool to CUT the nuts off.

Bought a fairly expensive spotting scope on line. It's been 2 months and I still dont have it. I keep getting these very generic customer service responses by email but no one is actually trying to do anything for me. Ive been given 3 different dates as to when to expect my product and we are well past all 3 dates now. I am a manager in retail and in a situation like this we would go somewhere that had the product and bring it back to our store for the customer to purchase. It's obvious Cabela's is way behind the times in customer service. How hard is it really, to get me my spotting scope? To make a customer happy? Cabela's customer service is pathetic. I can honestly say they have lost a customer for life... Not that they care.

We always have had problems with Cabela's Credit card service and personal we talk to. If we talk to a rep then we should not need a to send a letter. They will not give information about the paid account unless the husband calls even though the wife was placed on the account by the husband. They seperate the family values with their rules.

We purchased three ultralight fishing rods over the the past two years. Last year one rod broke. Cabela's replaced that one. This year two more rods broke. I called Cabela's two days ago when asked I gave them my phone number I was disconnected. We have five ultralight fishing rods from various other rod manufacturers. Non of these other rods have broken in the past ten years. Cabela's sell defective rods and do not stand behind their product.

After paying my Cabelas Visa on time and multiple times a month for 15 years, including my unemployment, they rewarded me with a 4%+ interest increase.

I reccomend you pay off, trasnsfer to another card, and stop buying from Cabelas. Bass Pro Shops, Bank of America card is not nearly as high. I never expected to be

raped and robbed by Cabelas. Girl on phone said they raised the rate due to hard times. Hard times mean I can't do business with Cabelas. Stop doing business with

the boys at Cabelas. They don't deserve your business. They're O% interest rate deal is a practical bait and switch as well. Just stop doing business with Cabelas to

avoid rape.

I have been burned again and the last by Cabela's club visa. I was hit with the 0% interest thing my self. I also recieved a letter in the mail from them it read. Due to information obtained from your credit report we have decided to cancel your Cabela's credit card account. I haver contacted them and I got the old switch and drop phonr tag. I finally got to talk to someone long enough to ask a couple of questions. I got the same thing except this time he tells me that my Cabela's club points are no longer available to me. So I got my credit report and my score My credit had gone up the last three months. I have recieved items in the mail you are a good customer etc, etc, . Anyone can say anything they want about Cabelas and their worlds foremost bank They are no good rotten crooks and they will never get any of my business again, Bass Pro Shops are going to get the 7 or 8 thousand dollars a year I spend on outdoor equipment. Cabela's is the worst institution in the country. They are Liars and Cheats STAY AWAY FROM CABELA'S AND THEIR SINDICATE OF CROOKS I hope the bottom falls out of their Boat.
Reply with what you want THEY SUCK and I am out to tell the world just how bad they do..

I received a letter in the mail from Cabela's stating that they were decreasing my credit. When I called they said it was because I was three times late in the past year and there is nothing they can do about it. I am a busy person and paying the late fee was no big deal to me. Yes...I was late but I paid four times the minimum amount due. I am no dead beat and I "ALWAYS" pay way over the minimum amount due. So, by reducing my credit it appears my card is almost maxed out. They are not customer friendly and do not look at a customer's history thoroughly. Every year I buy approx. $400.00+ of merchandise from Cabela's on their card. I have been a customer of Cabela's for over TEN (10) years but apparently this accounts for nothing. I will pay off my balance and get another card. Sadly I like Cabela's but all of my future purchases will be with Bass Pro Shops, Gander Mountain or Filson. I think we as long standing clients should receive at the very least an apology. I will take owness for the late payments but really come on...

Twice now I called in my payment to Cabelas as to avoid a late fee. Previously I called from my sons in another state as my Grandson had a serious medical problem we rushed to. They still charged me the late fee with stating we were late, along with the $7.50 charge for a phone payment. I was however 4 days early, all other payments were made by that phone and had no problems. I let it go.

I just made a payment around Martin Luther King Day as I realized I forgot to get my payment in the mail the previous Sat. and it would be late so I called, this time on the payment stub wrote date, etc. amount and confirmation number down. Again, they state I was late on payment with the $7.50 payment, however I called 3 days prior to due date. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on you. I will cancel my Cabelas card and thats that.

On December 22, I went to the Richmond Cabelas to buy a new Nikon Buckmaster 3x9 Scope with BBC for $219.99 with tax was $138.99 because I had a coupon and club points. I had to drive over 50 miles to get to the store and made the purchase in good faith. When I returned home to mount the new scope on my rifle, I discovered that the scope in the box was a used and damaged scope, not even of the type that I had purchased. I called Cabela's right away, and they told me that they would take care of it when I got there to exchange the scope. I drove all the way back to the Richmond store and then was told that I could not get an exchange or my money back. That their employees check all merchandise before selling it and the correct scope must have been in the box. I know for certain that the employees did not check the box before putting it in the bag because my son, Gary Wiersma was present at the sale. The customer service representative said that they had the purchase on surveillance tapes. They told me that they could make a copy for me. They let me sit there and then came back and told me that they could not make the copy for me or see the surveillance tapes or let me talk to the employee that made the purchase. They said that the employee was clearly checking the box out and that the packing around the scope that should have been there if it was new was removed by the clerk, which never happened and this happened in the presence of myself and my son. So not only am I out the money of for the scope, I'm out gas money, my time, the time my son took out of his vacation to purchase and I'm stuck with a used, damaged scope.

I have been a loyal Cabela's customer for years, but no longer. My son and my extended family will all know what happened during this shopping experience.

Via e-mail I received a notice that soon in the mail I would receive a coupon worth up to $100.00, were I to make a purchase of $500.00. The coupon never arrived! I called the local Cabala's in Hamburg, Pa. they knew nothing about it, I called the credit card company from Cabala's, they know nothing about it. Since last week I have been trying to reach "Ryan" at [protected] ex. 2442, He is never there! On my house phone I have a message from him, a week old, stating that he would take care of it? Well he is not in his office again today! The coupon is good from December 3 to the 24 th. today is the 9th!
The Hamburg store is two hours away from my house; therefore, I am not going to waste time and gas attempting to make a purchase there!
THIS IS A DISGRACE! I use the cabala's credit card often, I make purchases there in person and or on-line, yet this is how they treat their customers.
I have now attempted to call the CEO, Dennis Highby at [protected] and I got his secretaries recording!
Is this a corporation or a Mom and Pop outfit?
Highby your company is a disgrace! There are many hunters in my family aside from all my friends, we ALL will NEVER shop at your store again, I am sure you don't care about this but I will feel better knowing, no matter how minute it will be I will lower your profit margin!
Disenchantment,
Vincent M. Gaudini, Sr.

I had been a long standing customer of theirs for years and have a small balance on our credit card. Recently due to the economy, I had to take a pay cut, our buisness has dropped to litterally zero and my wife has not been able to find work, we had been late on a couple of OTHER credit cards, but not Cabelas. In fact until this year we NEVER had been late on any bill, EVER. So what does Cabela's do? Raise our rates to 21% from 9.9%. Talk about getting kicked in the teeth when you are already down! So I decided to take care of the companies that were working with us to help us out of this situation. What does Cabela's do? They now start to call our neighbors and have them contact us to contact Cabelas because they are concerned!

Are you serious. Please, do not support this company in anyway, they do not deserve buisness if they are going to treat people like this!

I have been a loyal Cabela's customer for years and always used their World's Foremost Bank credit card for purchases to earn points. I never was late with a single payment and always paid more than the minimum, in other words, a good customer. Out of the blue they raised my interest rate to 21%! This is just another example of a big heartless bank that will toss away loyal customers at a whim. Do yourself a favor and do not deal with these people!

Several things have been noticed lately.
1) Removal of their long time no questions asked returned policy with an extended warranty policy. If you buy this policy and use the service it is good for only one year and may negate the manufacturers lifetime warranty because the items do not go to the manufacturer for service.
2) Quality. Chinese made products especially the Cabelas rifle scopes are of appallingly low quality. Horrible optical distortion-junk. The Cabelas Trekker bow case is thin plastic over cardboard with aliminum edging for over $100! The Doublr Bull Blinds which made their reputation by being hand made in Colorado are mass produced in China. Again junk. Clothing that is not cut right etc.
3) Selection. Items are selected for stocking inb stores based on what their corporate staff likes and by which vendor paid them or schmoozed them the most. No big surprise. Primos brand is widely featured. You'd think he was a family member. The Primos bloodlight has been noted for a couple of years as a piece of junk. Cabelas has thousands they can't move. Items that could sell- especially muzzleloading and tradtional archery- especially the lower cost stuff are left for catalog sales. They apparently like to try to sell the high end crap in the stores to get the daily sales dollar figures up. $100+ bow quivers, $1500 shotguns, $60, 000 boats etc. Reloading supplies and ammunition selection are awful compared to other companies. They must have a deal with Hornady brand because you can get mainly Hornady bullets, Speer you cannot get at all and the other companies are underepresented. Price on the Hornady stuff is actually higher than the non Nebraska produced supplies. (?)
4) Service. Staff is forced to push the Cabelas Club Card (VISA) because the company makes a large part of their revenue off credit card interest! Some stores- Hoffmann Estates in paerticular was using threats of termination if the staff did not get a certain amount of card referrals. The so called expert outfitters are quite often only experts in that they have been trained in how the products work and trained by the company reps. Many do not have actual field experience with the products. They are also told not to show preference for one brand over the other and to not give a real opinion. You can tell when the ones that know what they are doing are tap dancing around an issue to try to sell you a decent item at a decent price and steer you away from something they know is junk. By the same token they are trained to try to sell you the most expensive items possible and to not ask what you can afford. Again you can tell the better staffers by the way they try to figure out what will work best for you without wasting the entire day.

5) Staffing- from inside sources there is general mayhem. Corporate does not communicate with retail stores. Morale is in the tank. While staff used to be paid quite a bit over minumum wage to start that is no longer the case, hours are usually not 40 per week although that is what is claimed. It usually runs 35 to 37 for full time staff. Stores are understaffed and over worked. Store area managers and other salaried staff are worked well over 40 hours per week with little or no compensation. The excuse given is they are FLSA exempt. There is also a rumor that corporate staff over 60 with 10 years in the company were forced to take a buy out and leave. Age discrimination. There are also examples where they WILL NOT hire anyone they think is over qualified because they fear they will get turned in for various violations.

Cabelas is definitely not the World's Greatest Outfitter anymore even though they apparently paid Outdoor Life and Field and Stream to say so a couple of years ago. It's amazing what you can get outdoor writers to say if you pay them enough or give them enough freebies.

Same ole' song and dance as the others here. Loyal customer for years, Never late, Balance paid in full except for a few months. Raised interest rate from 9.99% to 20.99% when I did have a balance. Paid Balance in Full next month to avoid interest charges.BAM...they closed my account. OK for them to do it before the NEW Regulations take effect. Sure! AND I have the right to tell everyoe I know how BAD they are. Just lost 4 customers in my family and friends FOREVER! NO PROBLEM.. THANK you Chase, WF, BoA and Amex. for being myBUSINESS PARTNER! Why deal with small change when "REAL" $ is on your side. YOUR CHOICE while you have it. So...HOW"S THAT " HOPEy-CHANGEy" thing workin' for ya' now Dems!

I am very disappointed in the Post Falls Cabelas. I recently went to visit my favorite department (waterfowl) and was told that the most knowledgeable person (Jon) has been moved to another department. I walked through the store until I found Jon so that I could ask him the questions that I wanted answered. He told me that Travis(who I found very arrogant) had recently been hired as the lead for the waterfowl department. Where did they find this guy? Why did they move Jon? You would think that you would want qualified Outfitters in the proper departments. Is this a common practice at Cabelas? Jon has been the Outfitter that I have looked for since last years opening. He is very helpful and extremely knowledgeable.

Everyone one of my hunting buddies have also enjoyed the Customer Service that they receive from Jon. Cabelas is about hunting and the outdoors and when we visit your store and we spend our hard earned money, we want to be served by the Outfitter of our choice. I overheard a guy the other day (while I was dining with my family) talking about a visit he made to Cabelas. He was trying on a pair of boots and heard ducks. He said that he was so impressed that he followed the sound until he arrived at the Waterfowl counter, where he met Jon. I knew that he had to be talking about the same Outfitter that my friends and I know. This guy told the people that he was dining with "that it was the best duck calling he had heard in a long time." From the way that guy told that story, I believe that he has told that story quite a few times. That guy was so impressed that he is providing your store with free advertisement. Why would you transfer an Outfitter who makes such an impression on your Customers? I hope that the next time I visit the Post Falls Cabelas, Jon has been returned to his rightful position.

I have had a Cabela's Visa card for almost a year. After making my payments always on time and always making a payment of double the amount due, I received a call from the collections dept. this am, May 13, 2009. I was told that my payment was due on May 7th and I needed to make a payment. I made a payment of 100.00 April 2, 2009 and 2000.00 on April 13th. The 2000.00 was made for May's payment. Because it was made early they applied it to April's payment and told me that I was late for May. I was treated very rudely and was told by the so called team leader of collections that their was no one else I could talk to, nor could she give me a email address. I ended up getting online and saw exactly the same complaints. I did speak to another manager who said that that is their policy. So, never make your payment early and never pay a large payment if you don't want your credit line cut. I would close my account, but don't want to hurt my credit score. Does anyone know who I can complain to?

thank you,
kathy

Like the other complaint about Cabelas on this site. We got the zero interest card for a sizable purchase but in our case our card was used for a purchase we did not make so we closed the account immediately and paid off our amount. But they keep charging us for a renewal fee and a late fee on the purchase that was made by the THIEF who stole our card!
This has been going on for more than six months and we continually get delinquency notices. If this shows up on our credit we are hiring a lawyer. This is harassment and the government should get involved.

I purchased a Smith & Wesson handgun advertised by Cabela's in Fort Worth, Texas as offering a $50 rebate.
The rebate was timely mailed the first of January, 2009 to the address on the form: HOLIDAY HANDGUN PROMOTION, P. O. BOX 412, MPS DEPT #525-05, CINNAMINSON, NJ 08077 phone [protected].

The rebate coupon said allow 8-10 weeks processing. I called after 10 weeks and was told that my rebate was being processed and it would be another 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. I waited another three weeks to call and am being told again that it will be another 2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

I bought their response the first time, but not this time.